According to the National Travel & Tourism Office (NTTO), international travel by U.S. citizens reached a record high in 2015. Outside of North America, travel to Europe (12,598,860), the Caribbean (7,648,197), and Asia (4,842,660) were the most popular destinations. Mexico's rebranding as an affordable tropical destination seems to have paid off as well: Within North America, travel to Mexico significantly exceeded travel to Canada by air and ground transportation.

Somewhat surprisingly, the most significant year-over-year increase in popularity was seen in travel to the Middle East, which jumped up 14.9 percent, and had a total of 2,045,251 U.S. visitors despite tensions and political instability. Africa, which saw attacks in Kenya and Nigeria, was the only region to see negative growth, with travel dropping 2.1 percent from 2014.